Editorial
The vanishing rainforests
Deterrent punishment to plunderers
THE front-page Daily Star story on cutting and robbing of trees of Kalinga forest in Srimongol, one of the largest and most pristine rainforest reserves of the country, tells aplenty of how it is either sheer inefficiency or shameful corruption on the part of the officials and staff members of the forest department and the law enforcing agencies that has made possible the outright plunder of forest resources. Kalinga forest and the conjoined Rema forest covering an area of about 1,795 hectares form the biggest tree-cover after the Sundarbans. But Kalinga forest today has been reduced to a pathetic silhouette of its former beauty. And it is beyond comprehension that what poachers could not do in last ten years, they have done it in just one year!
The work of destruction continues as of today in perfect partnership between greedy forest officials and illegal loggers under the protection of some bigger godfathers who operate from behind the curtains. The powerful robbers make sure that no patrolling by forest guards is done during logging and the forest officials do not bother to number and record tree stumps to get a clear idea of the scale of illegal felling of trees. It is a further disconcerting revelation that in fear of investigation from the head office the local officials recently cleared off all logs and branches from the forest and that some of the stumps were dug out to hide signs of logging. It is quite obvious that the perpetrators show no qualm or fear for the law of the land.
The forest reserve of Bangladesh has already hit a dangerous low because of relentless felling of trees and turning of forest lands into agricultural and industrial plots. Experts fear that further depletion of forests would trigger a serious ecological and environmental disaster throughout the country and that the damage repair cost would turn out to be many times more than what the robbers gained by selling logs.
We urge the authorities in full earnest to implement the relevant laws to save our forests in consideration of the need of our future generations. Severe punishment to corrupt officials and their agents will deter further attempts to plunder forests.
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